Rotary vertical leer



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R. GOOD ROTARY VERTICAL LEER Filed April 28, 1924 May 79 3.9291,

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ROTARY VERTICAL LEER Cil Patented Ma'y 7, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT GOOD, OF WASHINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 -HAZEL-ATLAS GLASS OO., 0F WHEELING, WEST VIRGIATIA, A'CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

ROTARY VERTICAL LEER.

Application led April 28, 1924. Serial No. 709,596.

This invention relates to leers for annealing glassware, and particularly to a series of vertical tubular leers through which the glassware slowly travels from top to bottom, the glassware being gradually cooled during its passage. In the present embodiment of the invention a number of such vertical leers are arranged in a circular series, and the series as a whole is given a rotary motion while the articles are being slowly carried' step by step from top to bottom of the leers.

The objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the apparatus, parts being omitted and parts being broken away for the sake of clearness.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the apparatus; parts being broken away to more clearly show the construction.

Figure 3 is a detail vertical sectional view of the upper portions of a number of the leers; and

Figure 4 is a detail vertical sectional view of the lower portion of one of the leers, and showing the means for preventing the admission of air to the bottom of the leer.

Before describing the apparatus as a whole .I shall first describe one of the single ovens or leers which are united in a circular series to form the complete apparatus. Each of the single ovens forming the apparatus is substantially identical in construct-ion with the leer disclosed in my application Serial No. 709,595, filed Apr-i128, 1924..

Referring particularly to Figure 1, it will be noted that the bottom portion of the leer of that ligure has been omitted; and that in the leer on the left of that gure the central portion has been broken away in` order that the bottom portion of the leer may be shown.

. Numeral 1 indicates a muflle or oven, the passage through which is preferably cylindrical, as indicated by numeral 2. The mulle may be manufactured of any desired 4 comprising a tube provided with a plurality of jet holes. I have illustrated two of the burners, but any number may be employed, and by the selective use of them the effective length of the muie may be varied. Any suitable means may be provided for furnishing air to the burners, such as passages communicating with the atmosphere and having control dampers 5. y

rIhe length of the muiiie will vary in accordance with the height of the ware and the speed with which the articles are carried therethrough, though it will be understood that the length may be varied within very wide limits, as conditions warrant. And in place of actually varying the length of the muflie, the effective length thereof may be varied as above described. Arranged below the muflle is a tubular member of heat-absorbing material, such as ordinary fire clay or other refractory material, as indicated by numeral 6. This heat-absorbing member becomes saturated with heat, furnishing substantially a tireless extension ofthe mule, and its length also is governed by the height of the ware andthe speed with which the articlesare carried therethrough. While I have specifically described this section of the leer as formed of heat-absorbing mate-v rial, it will be understood that the invention is in no manner limited to a leer having the heat-absorbing section, and in place of thev heat-absorbing material I may employ any desired non-heat-absorbing material.

Arranged below the heat-absorbing member is a sheet metal member 7 which eX- tends all the way from the bottom of the heat-absorbing member 6 to the bottom of the leer, which may be ten or fifteen feet, or any length desired.

Each of the ovens or leers is inclosed in a. casing of insulating material, such as silo-cel, as indicated by numeral 8; and provided in the casing of insulating material is a passage 9 extending from the top to the bottom of the construction, there being one of these passages for each leer, and arranged within this passage is one run of an endless chain or belt 10. The endless chain passes over an idler at the bottom of the leer and overa holding sprocket- 11 at the top of the leer. Obviously, the sprocket may be permitted to rotate intermittently in any desired manner; but I have illustrated herein a rotatable shaft 12 carrying a worm 1 3 engaging a worm wheel 14 fixed on the sprocket shaft.l The means for intermittently rotating the shaft 12 to permit the rotation of the sprocket 11, will be described hereinafter.

A number of flights or shelves 15 are attached to the endless chain at regular intervals, and these shelves project into the tubular oven through a slot 16 extending from the top to the bottom of the oven. Attached to each of the flights is a relatively narrow plate'17, andthese plates pass down through the passage 9 and cover the slot 16. An ins ection of Figure 1 will show that the ends of adjacent plates areoppositely beveled so that they will overlap, thereby constituting means for preventing the entrance and exitof air to and from the leer through the slot 16. While I have illustrated the be understood that any overlapping construction of the plates may be employed. These plates possessthe further function of lbracing and adding rigidity to the conveyer flights.

- The bottom of each of the tubularovens and the bottom of each of the passages 9 are provided with a pair of tiltable closure members 18, which extend entirely across the bottom of each leer and passage 9, and Vwhich are normally held in closed position by means of counterweights 19, thereby preventing to a large 'extent the entrance of air to the leer. The specific structure here described does not form an essential feature of the invention, and obviously any means for accomplishing the same purpose may be employed.

Positioned below the leer is a chute 20 into which the glassware falls after having been annealed, and it is delivered by lthe chute to an endless belt 21 which conveys the ware to any desired point.

The operation of be described.

At the completion of the manufacturing process the articles, while still retaining their residual heat, are placed on the endless a' single leer will now conveyer by an attendant or by automatic machinery. It will be understood, of course, that if the residual heat is not sufficient for the annealing operation, such additional heat as may be necessary will be furnished in the muflle. It is found that very little, if any, additional heat will be necessary, as will appear hereafter. As each article is placed on a conveyer shelf the endless conveyer is moved one step, in a manner to be described hereinafter, to carry t-he article within the muihe. This operation is continued step by step until thearticles ar'e carried the full length of the leer and are delivered through the chute 20 to the conveyer 21.

Each hot article that is placed inthe leer has beneath it another article at only a slightly lower temperature than itself, and the heat that is radiated from this lower body functions as a baile or barrier to prevent the rapid radiation of heat from the upper article. While I have simply mentioned the article directly beneath the article last introduced, it will be obvious that there is a whole series of articles below the uppermost article, and each one of this series functions in the same manner to reduce radiation from the uppermost arti-cle; though, of course, the articles further removed from the uppermost article do not'exert this influence to the same extent as does the article immediately beneath it. It will also be understood, of course, that, while all of the heated articles below the uppermost article tend to prevent-.radiation of heat from that article, so, too, is radiation of heat from lower articles retarded by the articles below.

them which have a temperature only slightly lower.

It will also be understood that as the articles are introduced at the top of the leer in' a heated condition, and slowly move downwardly through the chamber, after passing through the muiiie, the contents of the chamber will give up their` heat gradually as they move down and the air thus heated will rise to the top of the leer, thereby contributing to the maintenance of the temperature of the upper portion of the chamber.l

In order to properly anneal glassware, the articles should be gradually cooled from about 950 to about 600; and from the foregoing description vit will be apparent that the temperature of the leer disclosed herein will naturally be the highest at the top of the leer, and that this temperature w11l be decreased very gradually toward the bottom of the leer.

. It will Aalso be apparent that in annealing glassware in the manner described vherein very little, if any, heat other than the residual heat of the articles is necessary. If the articles were introduced at the bottom of the leer and were carried upward, the heat glven olf by the articles would rise to the. top of the leer and consequently the artlcles would be discharged from the leer at substantially the same temperature at which they entered. And it is also true that 1f ya hor1zontal leer were employedy the operatin would be by no means the same, for there would not be the same even distributlon of heat at a gradually lowering temperature; and, further, it would be necessary to supply a large amount of heat to the leer, for the horizontal leer does not present the same economical arrangement as thls vertical leer wherein the heat given oil' by the articles being annealed rises to the top to maintain the temperature of the upper portion of the leer.

Having fully described the construction and operatlon of a single leer, I will now proceed to describe the construction and operation of the complete apparatus.

Any number of the individual leers may be grouped in a circular series, and in the present instance I have illustra-ted twentyeight of them inclosed in an outer and inner casing of insulation material 8. For purposes of description this large circular member containing the twenty-eight individual ovens will be termed the rotary leer.

'Ihe apparatus may, of course, be installed in any desired manner, but it is preferred to have the lower portion thereof arranged in a cellar, or the like, while. the upper portion thereof projects up above the floor indicated by numeral 22. By the arrangement clearly illustrated in Figure 1, an attendant may stand on the loor 22 and be in a position to place the glassware in the-top of the leer, in the event that the glassware is fed by hand.

rIhe base of the apparatus is indicated by numeral 23, and mounted in this base and extending upwardly to the top of the apparatus is a fixed column' 24. The upper end of this column is mounted in a frame 25 support-ed from the floor. Adjacent its upper end the column 24 is provided with a collar 26 having a ball-bearing race on which is mounted a large circular plate 27. This plate is of substantially the same size as the cross sectional area of the rotary leer, and rods 28 are connected to the plate and to the leer to support the latter. A spider frame 29 is mounted on a ball-bearing race provided in the base 23, and this spider carries a plurality of upwardly extending arms 30.which, in conjunction with the r0ds28, support the rotary leer. It will thus be seen that the apparatus as a whole is mounted to freely rotate on the column 24.' Obviously, any desired means may be employed to rotate the leer, but in the preferred construction illustrated herein the periphery of the plate 27 is provided with gear teeth 31; and these teeth are engaged by a pinion 32 driven by a motor 33. The invention is not` limited, of course, to any particular means for rotating the leer, and it may be rotated continuously or intermittently by motor or by any other driving means; and, if desired, the rotary leer may be driven by, and synchronized with, any conventional glass-making machine.

Each of the individual ovens is provided with the endless conveyer 10, and with va holding sprocket 11; the sprocket being rotated byv the weight of the ware on the downward lrun of the conveyer, and being permitted to rotate at intervals by the rotation of the shaft 12 carrying a worm 13 which engages the worm wheel 14. Various means may be employed for intermittently rotating the shaft 12; but in the preferred construction a fixed toothed segment 34 is so positioned as to be engaged by the pinions` 35 fixed to the shafts 12. The rack 34 will be of such length that each pinion 35, as it is brought into engagement with the rack, will be rotated suliciently to permit the conveyer to move one step downwardly, thus carrying'the glassware into the top of the leer.

Gras may be supplied to the burners in any desired manner, but for the purposes of illustration I have shown a pipe 36 leading to a central recess 37 in the base of the Xed column 24. A manifold 38 surrounds the column and pipes 39 lead radially from the manifold to the various burners 4. Various other methodsl of supplying the gas could be employed; and ,it will be understood that, if preferred, the column 24 could rotate with the leer, and in such a construction the pipes 39 could be connected directly to the passage 37 in the column, thereby eliminating the manifold 38.

While I have illustrated and described burners for supplying additional heat to the leer, it is to be understood that the burners may be eliminated and the annealing operation accomplished solely by the residual heat of the articles. The operation of the leer without the use of a burner is described in my application Serial No. 709,595, filed April 28, 1924, hereinbefore mentioned, and for a full description of such a vleer reference is to be had to that application.

It is believed that the operation of the rotary vertical leer will be fully understood from the foregoing description, but it may be briefly described as follows:

VAssuming that the feeding station is located at the left of Figure 1; as each oven with its conveyer and operating mechanism approaches this station, the pinion 35 of that particular oven will engage the fixed toothed segment 34 and the conveyer thus be. permitted to move down one step carrying into the top of the leer the glassware Cil that has been placed on the conveyer. As this article is moved into the top of the leer the lowermost article is discharged from the bottom of the leer into the chute 20 and thence to the endless belt 21. The rotary leer continues its rotation and the article that was moved into the top of the oven, as well as all other articles in the oven, remains in its same vertical position until the leer has made a complete rotation. At the end of a complete rotation the article is moved down one more step and retains that vertical position until another complete rotation has been made, whereupon it is moved down one step farther, and so on until the article, completely annealed, is discharged from the bottom of the leer. The operation of all of the individual ovens is exactly the same; each ove'n as it approaches the feeding station receiving an article to be annealed, and at the same time discharging an annealed article; and all of the articles retain their vertical position in the rotary leer during a complete rotation 'thereof until they approach the feeding station.

It will be understood, of course, that the articles may be placed on the shelves of the endless conveyer by hand or by any desired automatic machinery; and the leer may be rotated continuously or intermittently, and it may be synchronized with a glass machine.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described what I now believe to be the best embodiment of the invention, but I do not wish to be understood thereby as limiting myself or the scope -of the invention, as many changes and modifications may ybe made without departing from the spirit of the invention; all such I aim to include in the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, whatl I claim as lnew and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A revoluble vertical leer for annealing glassware, and means for carrying glassl ware through the leer.

2. A rotary leer for annealing glassware,

and means for carrying glassware downwardly through said leer. 3. A rotary leer for annealing glassware,

-an oven extending vertically therethrouo'h,

ovens provided in the leer, and an endless conveyer passing downwardly through each oven.

7. A rotary leer for annealing glassware, a plurality of separate vertically arranged ovens provided in the leer, an endless conveyer passing downwardly through each oven, and means for operating said conveyer intermittently.

8. A rotary leer for annealing glassware, an oven extending vertically therethrough, an endless conveyer passing downwardly through the oven, and means for operating said conveyer ina certain position of the rotary leer.

9. A rotary leer for annealing glassware, an oven extending vertically therethrough, an endless conveyer passing downwardly through the oven, and means for intermittently operating the conveyer. v

10. Arotary vleer for annealing glassware, an oven extending vertically therethrough, a conveyer for carrying glassware downwardly through the oven, and means for moving said conveyer one step during a complete revolution -of the rotary leer.

l1. A rotary leer for annealing glassware, a plurality of ovens extending vertically therethrough, an endless conveyer mounted in each oven, and means formoving each of said conveyers one step during a complete revolution of the rotary leer.

12. A rotary leer for annealing glassware,

means for rotating the leer, and means for moving each article downwardly one step in the leer during a complete rotation thereof.

13. A rotaryleer for annealing glassware,

an oven extending vertically therethrough, p

means for moving glassware into the leer in one position of the latter, and meansfor discharging glassware iny the same position of the leer.

14. A rotary leer for annealing glassware, a plurality of ovens extending vertically therethrough, an endless conveyer for each oven, and means for automatically operating each conveyer at a predetermined position of the rotary leer.

15. A rotary leer for annealing glassware, a plurality of ovens extending vertically therethrough, an endless conveyer for each oven, a holding sprocket for each conveyer, a pinion operatively connected with each holding sprocket, and means for rotating the pinion during the rotation of the leer.

16. A rotary leer for annealing glassware, a plurality of ovens extending vertically therethrough, an endls conveyer for each oven, aholding sprocket for each conveyer, a pinion" operatively connected with each holding sprocket, and a fixed toothed segment adapted to be lsuccessively engaged by each pinlon.

17. A rotary leer for annealing glassware,

a plurality ofovens extending vertically a fixed toothed segment adapted be en-v therethrough, an endless conveyer for each gaged successively by said pinionsi oven, a rotary platesupporting said leer, l 18. A rotary vertical leer for annealing l0 *l means forrotating sald plate, a plurality of glassware, and means for carrying glass- 5 rotatable shafts mounted in said rotatable ware longitudinallyv through the leer.

plate and connected with the conveyer, a

pinion carried by each rotatableshaft, and ROBERT GOOD. 

